"You were out, when I called," said he, after a few minutes.
She could find nothing more striking in reply than a bare "Yes."
"I saw your brother," he went on, diffidently. "Did he mention our conversation to you?"
"No; that is, nothing particular."
"Ah! I was afraid I had put my foot into it," said Claud, taking up the black lace fan from her knee and playing with it.
"What did you say?" asked the girl, with eager anxiety.
"It was a thankless task—one usually burns one's own fingers by trying to meddle with other people's affairs; but I thought," said the young man, "as I had seen a good deal of Allonby last summer, that I would be doing him a good turn if I let him know the state of affairs?"
"The state of affairs?"
"Yes: with regard to my friend Percivale and Miss Brabourne. You see, she knew nothing and nobody when your brother spoke to her last summer. It was unfortunate ... but it could not be helped ... the long and short of it is, however, that I am afraid she has changed her mind."
Wynifred controlled herself; after all, it was only a definite statement of what she had known must be the case.